Fire Emblem Gates of Infinity
by mooseman3
Summary: The continent of Lumos is a beautiful and dangerous place, with mighty warriors and great mages it's not a hard world to understand. But will its people be able to stand against a new threat? Or will it crumble into dust? (A Fire Emblem story with an original new continent and built using submitted characters). (Submissions Closed.)
1. Prologue

**Hello to everyone who decided to click on this story, this is the first time that I've done something like this and I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm a long time Fire Emblem fan boy and I've always wanted to a Fire Emblem story, and I've decided to try it out. So this will be a Fire Emblem story based on a brand new continent, with submitted characters.**

 **XXX**

Lumos:

A brave adventurer founded the continent of Lumos long ago and chose to forge the land into a peace-loving kingdom, it was a good dream and for many years it was reality. The original inhabitants of Lumos, as well as the men and women who followed him on his exploration crowned the adventurer a king. However, all dreams come to an end and unfortunately this was no exception, after many years of peace war broke out across the continent, factions were formed, leaders were named, and sadly the kings' bloodline was extinguished. With no proper heir to the throne it was decided that each faction would become its own kingdom and lead itself.

 _Oslad:_

 _The North most kingdom in Lumos it suffers from harsh winters through most of the year. It is also the largest kingdom in Lumos, it prides itself on its intimidating army and steadfast beliefs that the strong will rise to the top will the weak will forever remain at the bottom. It uses a system where the strong are rewarded with lands, gold and titles while the poor are regarded as weak and used as slaves. Any slave who desires to be freed and move upward in society can participate in the Proving Grounds, a harsh set of challenges and trials that kills more slaves than it helps. Its military training is said to be the toughest and strictest of all other countries, Oslad is lead by the stubborn King Toborn who personally lead his armies against a rebellion that was lead by the poor who were tired of the way things were, the rebellion was crushed and all leaders of the rebellion were found and executed as an example._

 _Espus:_

 _The smallest kingdom in Lumos, it's home to a large bay known as Founders' Bay which is where the first king landed when he arrived on Lumos. It is also home to the first king's castle and is currently occupied by the royal family of Espus. Its people are the most skilled sailors and fishermen in the entire continent and its navy is nothing to mock. The one-armed swordsman King Harway rules it. He became an irresponsible drunk after losing his arm in what he claims was a fierce battle with a sea monster._

 _Pruaz:_

 _The trading capital of Lumos it is said to be the only city where a man can become rich beyond his wildest dreams and poorer than he ever imagined in one night. It lies in the center of Lumos making it an important trade route for merchants as well as bandits waiting to pounce on unsuspecting caravans. The old king of Pruaz, Javir, is currently on his deathbed and because of that his two sons are involved in a massive civil war for the throne. The eldest brother is backed by the Merchants Guild, a company that is responsible for the movement of products from all over Lumos as well as importing products from other continents, it is the primary reason why Lumos is the largest money making kingdom in Lumos. While the younger brother is backed by the Thieves Guild, a massive organization that protects and equips its members with the greatest tools available. Joining the thieves guild is said to be one of the hardest things to do and leaving it is even harder because anyone who tries, is killed._

 _Fraylia:_

 _A kingdom where Pegasus are most commonly found, because of this Fraylia is home to the largest amount of pegasus riders in Lumos. It has large open fields that are filled with farms and beautiful forests that house bandit that use the tall trees to hide from authorities. Queen Allisya who is as kind as she is beautiful rules it._

 _Zoa:_

 _A large desert that is home to many different tribes. Because of the scarceness of supplies the tribes are constantly fighting for resources including oases, which are sources for fresh water and fruit that are essential to survive the harsh climates of the desert. The men of Zoa follow a tradition where on must spend a week in the desert alone and return in order to pass into manhood. While Zoa has no true king the largest tribe, Ta'Haran, is spoken to when in need of diplomacy. The Ta'Haran are lead by Chief Guia, a silent archer who is said to be able to speak with the spirits of the desert._

 _Races:_

 _Humans are the most abundant of the races in Lumos._

 _Tigronians are the original inhabitants of Lumos and are also the sole beast race of Lumos; they have the power to turn into large tigers. Commonly found in Zoa Tigronians are easily identified due to the stripe like tattoos that all adult Tigronians have on their arms, chest, neck, back and cheeks. In human form Tigronians are typically taller than most humans, cat like eyes and ears as well as sharp fingernails. In their tiger they have the appearance of large tigers with large upper canines that stick out of their mouth._

 _Classes:_

 _When it comes to classes I'm ok with pretty much anything except for other beast races like taguel, laguz or manaketes, also no tactician or Hoshido specific classes. Not out of dislike or anything, but there is a reason._

 _Character Sheet:_

 _Below is the character sheet, be prepared for questions and such if you choose to send in a character._

Name:  
Age:  
Race:  
Gender:  
Country:  
Alignment: (Good/Evil)  
Class: (Tigronians don't have to put this in)  
Weapon: (Tigronians don't have to put this in)  
Appearance: (Try to be as descriptive as possible please)  
Background: (Please be as descriptive as you can)  
Personality: (Please be descriptive)  
Extra: (If there's something important you think I need to know or you forgot to put it in)

 **XXX**

 **So there you guys/gals go, if you have any questions please feel free to ask and if you don't have an account and you want to put this in a review then please leave a name that I can address you with next chapter, or else I am powerless to contact you and ask questions. Well that's all, later.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Ok first official chapter of my Fire Emblem story, before we get started I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who sent in an OC for this story I truly appreciate the support. Second of all I am still accepting OC's and will be until stated otherwise, if you have any questions at all in regards to rules of submission then feel free to ask. Well I'm done talking for now, so let's get started.**

 **I do not own Fire Emblem**

 **XXX**

Quint would be the first to tell you that living in the barracks wasn't as bad as people made it out to be, you were told when to sleep and when to wake up. You were told how much to eat and when, but maybe the thing that made it so unappealing was the long, grueling drills that took up hours of time and left you so exhausted that you couldn't help but collapse after you had finished. They had tested his skill in all areas when he joined the Fraylian military, he couldn't shoot a bow to save his life and he could barely move under the heavy armor that knights had to wear. Luckily he wasn't completely useless, knew how to ride a horse, the one saving grace of growing up on a farm he supposed. But that's about the only thing the farm had given him that had helped him in the military.

He had to go through sword fighting lessons as well as spear fighting, and then there was training for mounted combat, or as Quint liked to call it 'try not to get knocked off die'. He wasn't bad at mounted combat, at least he didn't think he was, but there was that one time last year where he had been knocked off his horse and ended up breaking his arm in two places. They had immediately taken him to the infirmary to have a cleric heal him and told him to rest for a few days before sending him back out. It wasn't the most pleasant memory that he had of his training in fact it was probably the worst, and he couldn't help but think about while he stood across from the Knight-Commander of Fraylia in the barrack courtyard, who was wielding a wooden training sword.

He'd honestly rather be anywhere else than here but it was a military tradition in Fraylia for recruits who had just finished their training to have a fight with the Knight-Commander, it was something about teaching humility to new recruits and respecting stronger opponents, he didn't believe a word of it but he wasn't exactly in a position to argue. Quint swallowed a lump in his throat while he sized up his opponent; Knight-Commander Keith was a tall man whose face and mouth were covered in a dark beard and no hair anywhere else, not even his eyebrows. There wasn't a drop of sweat on the man, even after fighting ten other recruits it looked like he was still about to fight for the first time. Given the fact that most of the recruits had charged him without a second thought maybe that wasn't too far from the truth, after all the first person that Keith had fought had charged him with his sword high in the air and screaming at the top of his lungs. Every other recruit watched, almost in slow motion, as the Knight-Commander kicked the recruit hard in the gut and sent him flying onto his back, where he gasped for air a few times before releasing the contents of his stomach onto the ground. Quint had no idea what the recruit was thinking, maybe he was trying to catch the Knight-Commander by surprise, all Quint knew was that it didn't work and afterword the rest of the new recruits came at Keith much more consciously to no avail.

So now it was his turn to fight Keith and he definitely wasn't looking forward to it, his only plan was not to charge in first. Not the greatest plan he knew, but if it didn't work for the other recruits then it wasn't going to work for him. So he stood there what felt like hours while he waited for Keith to move and finally he did, without any warning Keith charged from his position and came at Quint holding his sword at his side with both hands. Seeing the charge Quint raised his sword in front of him and watched Keith quickly stop in front of him and swing his sword, acting on impulse Quint jumped back and saw the Knight-Commander's sword miss his by a mere inch. In a second Keith had taken another step forward and swung his sword again, this time Quint blocked it with his own weapon and felt himself get pushed back by the older knight. The cycle repeated a few times with Keith attacking Quint and Quint blocking Keith's attacks, feeling a little gutsy Quint saw the Knight-Commander pull back for a swing a quickly lunged forward hoping to hit Keith once. Unsurprisingly the older and more experienced fighter saw the strike coming and spun sidewise to avoid the attack and position himself behind Quint who could do nothing as the Knight-Commander used the flat of his wooden sword to strike the back of Quint's neck.

He crashed to the ground and groaned as he rolled onto his back he tried to get back up but his eyes went wide when he looked up to see the point of a wooden sword in front of his eyes.

' _That's it then.'_

The fight was over, he had lost without even touching the older knight, and not that losing to the Knight-Commander was anything to get upset but he had wanted to at least land one hit on the man and prove to himself that he was stronger than before.

"Stand up solder, or would you rather spend the rest of the day in the dirt."

The deep and unamused voice of the Knight-Commander broke through to Quint's thoughts and he looked at the older man to see him standing in front of him with his arms crossed. In almost record time Quint was back on his feet with his right fist closed over his heart in a Fraylian salute.

"Sir! Sorry sir!"

A short nod from Keith was all he received in response before quickly making his way over to the line up of the other recruits. His neck was still sore from being hit but at least he could stand by himself, unlike the man behind him who needed to lean on the shoulder of another recruit. He wasn't the last soldier to fight Keith and so he had to stand with the other new soldiers to watch Knight-Commander Keith finish the last few fights. Apparently after watching his fight the other new recruits had decided to do the same thing and wait for Keith to make the first move, the first person to try it wasn't ready for Keith's sudden charge and had his sword knocked out of his hands before being elbowed on the bridge of the nose and sent into the dirt. The second man blocked the first swing and tried to push Keith back but wasn't expecting the Knight-Commander to suddenly pivot out of the way and sent the younger soldier tumbling forward only to have his feet swiped out from under him and send him careening face first into the ground.

The rest of the fights ended much the same way with not a single man landing a clean blow on the Knight-Commander. Without thinking about the pain in his neck Quint couldn't help but look at Knight-Commander Keith in awe, this was the man who was the leader of the Fraylian military and the strongest man in all of Fraylia his skill with a sword may have been incredible to watch in a training environment but it was nothing to what the older soldier could do on a battlefield, Quint was certain of that much. His moment of amazement was cut short when Keith stood in front of the gathered soldiers.

"All soldiers! Stand ready!"

At his call the new recruits and the older soldiers who had gathered to watch the training stood straight up with their feet together and a closed fist over their hearts and yelled their response as one.

"Yes Commander!"

"All of you are now proud soldiers of Fraylia. In times of war you will stand as beacons of hope! In times of peace you will stand as paragons of justice! This is the weight that every soldier in this army will carry for the rest of their lives! For as long you breathe it is your task to protect the innocent and punish the guilty! This is your duty! Take pride in that responsibility soldiers for it is now your privilege to serve Fraylia!"

"Yes Commander"

"All soldiers! Dismissed!"

The Knight-Commander gave us his own salute before walking off toward the castle; it wasn't until Keith was out of site that all of the soldiers relaxed some let out a sigh while some had their shoulders visibly drop. But everyone in the area was currently feeling the same excitement, this was everything that they had been training for since they joined two years ago and it was finally coming true, they were soldiers in the Fraylian military and tomorrow they'd be getting assigned to a location. Some would be put at an outpost and others would be positioned in the castle, and as the new soldiers walked toward the barracks almost all of them agreed that a quiet night in bed wasn't the proper way to celebrate something as big as this. The only way to properly celebrate was to go to the nearest bar and get absolutely hammered, the only men left behind were the ones who were too sore from their fight to go and Quint. He had politely turned down the invitation, the first reason being that he wasn't very interested in drinking and the second one being that he had other plans.

 **XXX**

He stood shirtless as his short auburn hair, which normally stuck up in odd angles, was stuck to his scalp from sweat. His arms were sore and he could see the exhaustion in his partner's movements, he supposed that after so much work it was only natural to get tired. He patted his companion's side and looked back at the training ground, it was a large open area near the barracks that had an assortment of training swords and training spears as well as dummies for close combat and targets for archers and javelins. Currently dummies were lying across the ground with cuts and holes while targets had javelins sticking out of them. He had set up the equipment and pulled his horse out of the stables late to train, the old and nearly blind stable master had thought he was a horse thief and had thrown a horseshoe at his head only to miss by a few feet. After explaining that it was his horse and that he was just getting his him for some late night practice, the stable master had laughed and sent them on their way with his only instructions to be back in an hour so that the horse could get a proper nights rest. He needed to be stronger that much he had seen in his fight with the Knight-Commander, he hadn't been able to go on the offensive at all and had been forced to defend against the older knights attacks. He was stronger on horseback than off it, that much he knew, but that wasn't enough. Not for him anyway.

After returning his horse to the stable Quint made his way back to the training ground and grabbed one of the training swords to start practicing, if he closed his eyes he could still relive the battle in his mind. He stood there imagining himself standing against the Knight-Commander, waiting for the older man to make the first move. With his eyes closed he reenacted the part where he dodged the Knight-Commanders first swing and blocked the second, and continued to act out the part where he was constantly blocking Keith's onslaught. And then he got to the final moment, the part where he lunged at the older knight and lost, he paused here and thought about any different path he could have taken. If he continued to block Keith would have found an opening and finished the fight in moments, if he had swung instead of lunged it would have been blocked and he still would have lost. No matter what answer he thought of he knew that Keith would have been able to respond and defeat him, Keith was a more experienced warrior and had years more knowledge of combat than he did. Any other person would have chalked up the fight as unwinnable but not Quint; everyone had a weakness that was just common sense. All he had to do was continue reliving the fight until he could find Keith's.

Unknown to Quint was that someone else had come to the training grounds and was currently watching him have his pretend fight. It was interesting to watch him fight his pretend enemy, stop and then start again. After sitting out of site for a few moments the stranger got bored and decided to meet with the strange man, they walked up closer and stood off to the side and watched Keith finish his pretend fight before introducing themselves.

"Hello."

For Quint's part he was taken completely by surprise and jumped backward in shock before regaining his composure and spinning toward the voice. Seeing that the voice belonged to a boy around his age Quint was about to ask what they were doing here when he noticed the way the boy looked. He had a small smile on his face and had messy white hair that covered his right eye and was wearing green shirt with the collar down, tan pants and tall green boots. Fancy blue clothes, the kind a noble would wear. On instinct Quint fell into his military stance so as not to offend the noble, the boy chuckled and quickly waved off the salute, the boy was a noble after all an the only one in the military ranked above nobles was the Knight-Commander.

"Please don't do that, I'm not really a fan of that stuff and nobodies here to make you do it."

"Yes my lord."

"You…don't have to do that either. Just call me Marik."

"Yes m-Mark"

"Good, now would you mind if I asked why you were fighting invisible enemies? When you have perfectly good dummies over there."

Quint went slightly red-faced at being seen, he didn't plan on having someone watch him train let alone a noble. The noble boy didn't look like he was in any rush to get anywhere and was calmly waiting for an answer with a tiny sigh Quint decided to just admit to what he was doing, and get the mocking over with.

"I was…reliving a fight a had today with Knight-Commander Keith. I was trying to find some way I could have won."

The boy was silent for a second as if trying to understand what he just heard, after not moving for a few more moments the corner of the boys mouth twitched once then twice before he appeared to have lost all control and bent over laughing. For Quint this was exactly what he was expecting, there wasn't a single person in all of Fraylia who didn't know Knight-Commander Keith's strength and to hear some random soldier who hadn't even seen combat claim that he was trying to defeat the man was comedy gold. Still, it didn't make the laughter sting any less, his hand tightened on his training sword and without waiting for the noble brat to dismiss him he turned and walked away.

"W-Wait! I-I didn't mean to laugh; it's just that it's the Knight-Commander you're talking about."

He heard Marik call out to him and fast footsteps that told Quint that he had had caught up and was behind him. Quint spun around, and looked the noble boy dead in the eye.

"I know who I'm talking about, Knight-Commander Keith is the strongest man to have ever fought for Fraylia. And I'm telling you and any other noble that thinks I'm delusion to take your opinion and shove it. I said I'm going to beat Knight-Commander Keith and I will!"

Marik took a step back at Quint's statement and the look in Quint's eyes changed from anger to shock, before he suddenly retook his military stance from earlier. After all if this boy was a noble in any way shape and told his parents that a new recruit offended him then Quint could easily be removed from the military for uncivilized conduct.

"I apologize for my words my lord, I was out of line and I humbly request that you dismiss what I just said."

It was quiet until a chuckle came from Marik, which he was trying to hide by covering his mouth with his hand.

"I've told you before, I don't like all that salute and my lord stuff. I said call me Marik and I'm not taking that back now. And don't worry about offending me, it should be me who apologizes I didn't mean to laugh at you ambitions, that was rude of me."

Quint stood in dumb silence at Marik's words; a noble just apologized to him, some random no name soldier. His shock must have shown on his face because Marik chuckled again, offered him a smile and stuck out his hand.

"I never got your name."

His question jolted Quint back into reality and he slowly took the offered hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"I'm Quint."

"It's good to meet you Quint. I must say I didn't expect to see someone out here so late, aren't soldiers supposed to be in the barracks at this time?"

"Well…yes, but recruits who have finished their training are given tonight off from any and all duties."

"And you've decided to spend it training? That wouldn't have been my first choice, but hey to each their own right?"

Quint was about to respond when Marik noticed something behind him and walked a few steps before picking up a training sword from an equipment bucket that Quint had taken out; he gave it a few swings, smiled and pointed it at Quint.

"It must be fairly boring fighting an imaginary opponent, if you'd like I can give you more of a challenge. Unless of course you're too scared to hit a noble."

This was probably the weirdest noble that Quint had ever met, not that he'd met any, but if all nobles were like this then maybe they weren't as bad as he thought. With a smile of his own Quint took up his own stance and pointed his sword at Marik.

"Well I was fighting the Knight-Commander, if you think you can fight better than him I'd like to see it."

There was a pause and without wasting a moment Marik dashed forward and swung down on Quint who had blocked the swing. Quint pushed him off and gave his own horizontal swing, which was similarly blocked by Marik. After the brief exchange both fighters smiled a little and began circling each other trying to find an opening and, at the exact same time, both of them came at each other. It was different than what Quint was used to, sure he had sparred with other soldiers but that was for training and they were always trying to best each other, this time it felt more like a game than anything else, almost like two child friends playing a game of knights. And he liked it. What seemed like hours of fun was actually a few minutes as both fighters, tired from the hard work, sat down and laughed, the first to talk was Marik who was lying down with his arms crossed behind his head.

"Not bad, you're pretty good with a sword."

"You're not to bad yourself…Marik."

He was told throughout childhood and training to never call a noble by name but right now it just felt right. Apparently it was because Marik turned his head to look at him and smiled brightly.

"About time you called me by my name."

Quint was about to say something else when a loud commotion at the other side of the field caused Marik and him to sit straight up. He saw two Fraylian soldiers running directly toward him in full armor, he stood up to greet them but as he did he felt a tug on his wrist and looked to see Marik pulling him away.

"What are you-"?

"No time to explain, just run!"

He was about to complain and ask for an explanation when he heard the two soldiers yelling and demand he stop. In that moment many different thoughts raced through his mind and the one that stood out the most was the one that made the most sense to him. Marik was the son of some big shot noble and had gone out late without permission, when his parents noticed he was gone they notified the guard and they found him with a stranger who could easily be a kidnapper. If he were caught then that was it for him, he'd be arrested and locked away for a long time without anyone listening to a word he had to say. With that thought in mind Quint picked up the pace and ran side by side with Marik.

"This way hurry."

Calling for him to take a sharp right turn, Marik lead Quint down a random path and dove into the bushes, an action that Quint quickly copied. From their hiding place Marik and Quint watched their pursuers run by without stopping to look. Marik released a sigh of relief while Quint was busy hyperventilating. He was almost arrested for no reason, his dream had almost been burned and swept away, and he needed answers.

"What in the Gods name was that about?"

Marik looked away for a moment before suddenly standing up and smiling at him.

"Sorry about that Quint, I didn't mean for you to get caught up in that."

Marik stepped out of the bushes and with one last wave ran off in the direction that the soldiers had gone. Quint raised his hand and tried to call to him but lowered it when Marik got to far away.

' _Well that wasn't how I planned to spend my night.'_

In one night he had met a noble, sparred with him and ran away from guards. It was one of the strangest things to have ever happened to him, but at least it was something to remember and never forget.

' _Goodbye Marik, maybe we'll meet again one day.'_

It was unlikely though; tomorrow he'd likely be stationed at some outpost to protect the people from bandits. But maybe if the Gods smiled on the two new friends they'd let them meet at least one more time. There was one thing that Quint did know however; he really needed to go to sleep.

 **XXX**

 **And there it is, my first official chapter for my Fire Emblem story. So we start in Fraylia, now I have a few Fraylia characters and I need some characters for other kingdoms. If you're interested in submitting a character for this story the OC page is on the first chapter as well as my profile page, if you have any questions about lore or any question in general for your character please feel free to ask, I love getting questions and I love answering them too. Well I'm done talking, till next time.**


	3. Chapter 2: The Spark

**Ok chapter 2 is ready to go but before we get started just a quick message to any potential submitters. I love getting all sorts of characters and reading their lore, but sometimes I'll get characters that are similar to one I already have and I will unfortunately have to say no for that reason or another. Anyway if you have any questions at all about submission please do not hesitate to ask. Well that's enough of me let's get started.**

 **I do not own Fire Emblem**

 **XXX**

 _He watched with tears streaming down his face as everything he loved burned to the ground. The smoke and ash burned his throat and if it had been any other moment, any other situation, he would have ran away but right now his feet couldn't seem to move. Not even the sound of screaming behind him could get him to move; he felt a hand on his shoulder and slowly turned his head around to look up at a large man who smiled a near toothless grin. The man raised his other hand and he saw something glint in the moonlight. There was more screaming behind him, coming from the burning building he had been staring at before, but this time it sounded like it was getting closer to him. In the next second whatever the man was holding he brought down straight toward his head._

Quint sat straight up in his bunk, covered in sweat and breathing quickly.

' _Just when I think it's gone that stupid dream keeps coming back.'_

Maybe every other week he'd have the same nightmare that he'd just had and every time he'd always wake up right before the axe came down. It wasn't a moment he liked to remember but it didn't seem like anybody was asking for his opinion. With a few measured breaths Quint got his breathing back under control and looked around the barracks and saw that many of the other soldiers had woken up and were getting their equipment on.

Today was the day that all of the new soldiers were to be moved out of the trainee barracks and were either assigned to a new location or moved to the main barracks. The lucky ones were placed in the royal castle. The beds were fairly comfortable and rations were generous.

' _None of that matters to me though; They could make me sleep on a bed of nails and feed me pig slop for all I care, but the royal guard has their drills personally overseen by Keith and if I want to get stronger then I'll need his help. '_

In roughly an hour a sergeant would arrive and give him and the rest of the soldiers their assigned postings and he needed to be in full uniform or else he'd be reprimanded, he put on a pair of tan riding pants and leather riding boots. Next he pulled a rough tunic over his head and strapped on his green armor with blue lining. With a few minutes left until the sergeant was expected to arrive Quint tucked his green helmet under his left arm and sat on his bunk.

' _That Marik guy sure knew how to fight. I wonder how he's doing anyway; I really would like to meet him again, I'd like to know why exactly those soldiers were chasing him. His parents must be pretty important if they have their own guards.'_

Quint's thinking was cut short when the door to the barracks slammed open and a tall thin man stepped into the room. As soon as the man stepped into the barracks every soldier put on their helmets and were on their feet giving a salute to the superior officer, who had his arms tucked behind his back. Each step the man took was directly in front of the last. When the superior officer made it to the other end of the room he spun on his heel and pulled out his right arm to reveal a piece of paper in his hand.

"Soldiers, in my hand I hold your names and the location of your new homes for the foreseeable future. When your name is called you will report to the training grounds for pickup and drop off. And try not to forget anything either, you will not be returning anytime soon. So without squandering my time anymore than I already have…"

With that the superior officer began calling out the names of soldiers, most of the time he'd call out ten men. There was one instance where twenty-five different soldiers names were called out for the Fenneck Outpost, the idea of that many men needed for one outpost baffled many in the room. Including Quint.

' _For that one outpost to need that many men… there has to be something pretty serious happening out there.'_

Gradually the amount of soldiers in the room dwindled until there was only Quint and seven other men in the room. The superior officer placed his right arm back behind his back and walked to the door.

"To those of you remaining, you have been chosen to remain here as members of the royal guard, report to the main barracks outside of the castle in two hours."

At that the man walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. It was quiet for a moment before the man standing across from him threw his hands in the air and cheered at the declaration of his new life living as a member of the royal guard. The others showed their excitement by smiling and high fiving the men close to them, Quint let his own smile show itself before turning around and getting everything he needed.

The officer had told them not to forget anything, but it was more of a cruel joke than a helpful reminder. Soldiers were only allowed to bring their armor, clothes, and weapons and, if they had one, a horse or pegasus. Any trinkets were considered contraband and were confiscated. After all soldiers can't afford to be distracted with something other than serving their country.

With nothing else to do Quint packed his only change of clothes into his bag and slung it over his shoulder before making his way to the barracks, he closed the door while listening to the elated voices of the soldiers in the room. He couldn't help but shake his head at their seemingly carefree attitude.

' _Being in the royal guard can't be easier than being at an outpost. If anything it's probably harder. I mean we are protecting the royal family and Keith is personally watching us run drills. At least I hope it's harder… otherwise I'm just wasting my time.'_

It didn't take Quint too long before he reached the main barracks and he almost went slacked jawed at its size. It loomed over him while giving off a sturdy and unshakable appearance. It had a flat roof and three pairs of windows running vertically up the building.

Quint gave his head a slight shake and swallowed an invisible lump in his throat before moving forward and opening the door. Inside there were rows of beds that made there way to the end of the room with a set of stairs leading up to what Quint assumed was another floor with beds. All of the beds on this floor were empty except for one. A gruff looking man sat on one of the beds sharpening his sword on a wet stone Quint walked toward the man and when he was about halfway there the gruff soldier spared him a glance before looking back toward his sword.

"Excuse me, I just finished my training and I was told to come here."

The soldier once again glanced up and unceremoniously spat on the ground right beside Quint's feet.

"Yea? So what?"

"So… is there anything I'm supposed to do?"

The soldier was silent for a moment while he focused on his sword before pausing and jerking his thumb upward.

"Top floor. Talk to Captain Hendrickson, he'll get you sorted."

"Thank you."

A grunt was all Quint got in response and made his way to the top floor.

' _Nice guy…'_

When he got to the second floor Quint saw that most of the beds were actually full of men laughing with each other and playing card games. None of the men paid him any mind and, not wanting to dawdle Quint made his way up another set of stairs to the top floor and saw a room with a desk as well as a bed. At the desk there was an older looking man with short white hair and glasses scratching away at a piece of paper with a quill.

Quint took a step forward and heard the entire floor creak under his weight. At the sound the older man looked up and saw Quint standing still, when their eyes met Quint immediately fell into a salute.

"Sir!"

The older man chuckled and stood to return the gesture.

"At ease soldier. Now, what can I help you with?"

"Sir, I just finished my training and I was told to report here."

"Oh right, just give me a moment."

The older man started flipping through the mass of papers that had collected on his desk while muttering to himself."

"No that's not it… wait how did this get here? …Oh I've been looking for this…. Ah ha, found it."

At his pronouncement Hendrickson held a piece of paper as if to show that he had actually found it before placing it against his desk.

"Now then what's your name son?"

"Quint, sir."

The older man stared at the paper and pointed at each letter with his quill before smiling and looking back up.

"Ah here we are, it says here that you're early. An admirable trait if I do say so myself, and I'm sure the Knight-Commander will enjoy not being kept waiting."

' _Wait what?'_

Apparently his confusion showed on his face as Hendrickson quirked an eyebrow and his head.

"Were you not told? The Knight-Commander has asked for you to visit his quarters. If you'd like I can have someone take you there."

At Quint's dumb nod the captain gave a chuckle and stood from his seat and made his way down the stairs with Quint following numbly behind. When they hit the bottom of the steps every man on the second floor went dead silent before jumping to their feet. One man even knocked over a deck of cards that scattered across the floor. Nobody seemed to notice or even care about the mess as they all stood perfectly still with their eyes focused dead ahead of them.

"Alright men, I need someone to take this young boy to the Knight-Commanders quarters in the castle. Any volunteers?"

At the captains request all of the soldiers went wide eyed, with some even having their jaws visibly drop. One soldier seemed to process things faster and in less than a second his eyes had widened, and then they narrowed before they lit up and he almost ran forward.

"Sir! I'll volunteer!"

Seeing the young man's actions Hendrickson chuckled before nodding.

"Alright Johan, take him to the Knight-Commander and then take him straight back, understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Off you go then."

At his dismissal Hendrickson made his way back up the stairs and in less than a heartbeat the rest of the soldiers got back to what they were originally doing.

"Come on. Let's get going."

Johan tugged on Quint's arm and, still lost in thought, he felt himself get almost dragged down the stairs

' _Why would the Knight-Commander want to see me? And how does he even know who I am?'_

"So, what's your name?"

His question knocked Quint back into reality and his head snapped toward the smiling man.

"Uh, Quint."

"Nice to meet you Quint. I'm Johan, so any idea why the Knight-Commander would want to see you. Not in trouble on your first day are you?"

"I don't think I am, I mean how could I be?"

Johan shrugged and put both hands behind his messy brown hair.

"Who knows? But hey, how bad could it be?"

"Yea... I guess."

The next few moments were spent in comfortable silence as both men made their way to the Knight-Commander's quarters inside of the castle.

 **XXX**

He had never felt this nervous in his life; he stood in front of the wooden door to Knight-Commander Keith's room trying to work up the nerve to knock.

' _Please don't kick me out of the army, please don't kick me out of the army, please don't kick me out of the army…'_

His thoughts trailed on just like that without any sign of stopping. Seeing that Quint wasn't going to be doing anything anytime soon, Johan stepped in front and knocked on the door. Quint's heart stopped at the sight and he almost grabbed Johan by the front of his armor to shake him back and forth until the familiar deep voice of Keith cut him off.

"Enter."

Taking it upon himself Johan grabbed the door handle and pushed it open to show Keith, in a white shirt writing something down at his desk. Both soldiers entered the room and Quint took a moment to stare at everything around him, it was simple looking room with a small amount of decoration. Two swords hung over a burning fireplace, behind Keith there was a painting of a lovely woman in a purple dress with her long black hair falling over her shoulders. Quint found himself staring at her face, her eyes reminded him of the ocean and a kind motherly smile that made him feel both safe and secure, he just couldn't seem to look away.

"Sir! Johan Dyne reporting in, I've brought the new soldier Quint as requested."

"Very well, take your leave then."

At the Knight-Commander's curt dismissal Johan let a small frown creep onto his face before quickly smiling and winking at Quint. At the sound of the door clicking shut behind Johan, Keith locked his fingers together and leaned forward.

"Do you know why I called you here soldier?"

"Sir no sir!

At his answer Keith stood and walked behind him while Quint frozen like a statue while giving a salute. After making a complete circle around him Keith stood in front of him and crossed his arms.

"I called you here to speak with you about our fight."

' _The fight? Did I do something I wasn't supposed to? Is he angry with me? Why?'_

"That was a damn good effort you gave soldier."

'… _Huh?'_

"You waited me out, not many men would be willing to do that, but you did."

"Th-thank you sir!"

' _I don't believe it! The Knight-Commander is complimenting me!'_

Before he could congratulate himself too far Keith's voice cut through his thoughts.

"But then you got cocky."

'… _I did?'_

"You thought that just because you blocked a few swings that you could tap me, maybe even get in a good hit, right?"

Without waiting for Quint to confirm, Keith went on.

"Don't forget anything that I'm about to tell you soldier, I've seen men like you before. You'll put yourself into an early grave if you if you keep fighting like you did."

"Then what should I do…sir?"

Quint's eyes had gone wide at the sudden question, the only thing he'd been able to do was slap on a half assed sir and hope that Keith would overlook it.

The Knight-Commander went silent at the question and didn't say anything for a moment. Then, without saying a word Keith walked back to his desk and sat down.

"Patience soldier. You need to be patient whenever you're in the middle of combat. There's an old saying in Espus, 'the man who catches one fish has slept through five.'"

"Sir?"

"Figure it out boy, and maybe one day you'll be in this seat."

Quint tried to form words at the Knight-Commander's statement but his mouth seemed to only open and close.

' _Say something you idiot.'_

"Sir I-"

"Hey, you can't go in there yet!"

Yelling from outside cut Quint off from what he was about to say and he spun around to see the door burst open and a woman in black armor on her chest and shoulders entered the room being closely followed by Johan.

"Sir I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen!"

While Johan tried to explain what had just happened to Keith, Quint took a moment to examine the new arrival. She was standing in a Fraylian salute, which revealed her to be shorter than him by a few inches. Her light green hair fell to her back and she had a black helmet tucked under her left arm.

"Speak your name soldier. And tell me why you've decided to enter without permission."

"My name is Rina Asaleia sir! And I apologize for that, but I bring important news from Fort Haggar."

"Speak then."

"Fort Haggar has been... overrun."

The sound of Keith's fist slamming against wood caused everyone to jump. The eyes of the Knight-Commander were filled with fire as he stared at Rina.

"Who was it?"

"I'm not too sure sir! But they appeared to be bandits."

Keith was quiet for a moment before standing.

"You mean to tell me that Fort Haggar was taken over by a group of bandits!"

Quint felt himself shrink at the tone of the Knight-Commander. And he wasn't even the one being yelled at.

' _How can Rina stand there without moving an inch, maybe she's to scared to even move.'_

"Sir, with all due respect there were too many bandits. They kept coming and no matter how many times we killed one, two more would take his place. I was told to bring you the message."

Silence once again entered the room as Keith made his way toward the door.

"The three of you come with me."

Not one of them had the guts to disobey Keith and fell into line behind the Knight-Commander. Quint turned around once more to look at the painting of the motherly woman before closing the door and following the others out of the room.

 **XXX**

 **And there it is, now to be brutally honest this was supposed to be released a few weeks ago but after a reread I decided to start from scratch. Also Rina and Johan are the first submitted characters to be used and I hope I did there characters justice if not then please tell me where I can improve and maybe tell me a few things that your character would do in any given situation. Finally I will no longer be taking any pegasus riders. Also, I can't take too many more Fraylians but everywhere else is still good to go, if you're having some trouble thinking stuff up send me a PM and I'll be happy to tell you anything I'm missing.**

 **Another quick thing, if I haven't answered your PM already I'm sorry just send me another one and I'll be sure to message back. Anyway that's all for now please review and if you feel like it submit a character.**


	4. Chapter 3: Fort Haggar

**Wow, I am sorry about this late update. I was meaning to get this out a lot earlier, unfortunately I was far too busy with college to properly sit down and finish this chapter. I've also been slightly busy working on my first story outside of fanfiction, once again sorry about how late this is but that's enough of me; let's get on with the story.**

 **I do not own Fire Emblem**

 **XXX**

Keith had taken them to the armory and told them to get any of their equipment that they needed and to meet him at the front gate in an hour. He had left without another word, leaving the soldiers to take care of themselves; Quint and Johan were the only two who actually needed to get anything, Johan grabbed an iron lance while Quint grabbed a sword as well as a lance. All three of them looked at each other, before they simply went outside as instructed. Quint had to go to the stables to get his horse and was lucky enough to actually be recognized by the stable master this time, so there was no need to dodge any horseshoes. With all of his equipment on hand Quint made his way back to the meeting spot in order to wait for Keith.

Quint sat on top of his horse and idly glanced at the two people standing beside him. Rina was tenderly running her hand across the mane of her pegasus while feeding it an apple. The steed had been standing outside of the castle patiently waiting for its partner and had rubbed its head against Rina's when she had gotten close. Meanwhile Johan had taken to leaning against the castle wall and whistling a tune that Quint hadn't heard before. Quint looked back toward Rina and slowly felt his curiosity grow.

"So… where exactly is Fort Haggar?"

Rina looked up at the sudden question and saw Quint rubbing the back of his head.

"It's far up north, not too far from the Oslad border actually. Sometimes merchants will come down and try to sell some stuff but that doesn't happen too often."

"Speaking of Fort Haggar, what exactly happened up there? Shouldn't killing bandits be easy for trained soldiers?"

Rina looked over at Johan and offered a sigh before answering.

"Like I told the Knight-Commander, every time we killed one bandit two more took his place. Doesn't matter how good you are at fighting, even the best get exhausted."

At her statement all three members of the group grew quiet and went back to what they were originally doing. Quint rested his chin against his hand and stared at the castle.

' _I wonder what Keith is doing, Probably getting his own stuff.'_

"What's his name?"

Quint jumped back a little at the sudden question, he looked over at the voice and saw Rina giving him a slight smile.

"Huh? Whose name?"

Rina simply nodded her head at the horse underneath him before speaking again.

"Your horse, what's your horses name?"

"Oh! Right, it's Bucket."

"Bucket? What kind of name is that?"

Quint turned to look at Johan and could see the beginning of a smile on his face.

"It was my grandfathers idea, a good bucket is strong, reliable, and useful for lot's of things. Just like a horse should be."

Johan still had the same smile on his face but shrugged his shoulders in response, seemingly accepting the answer.

"Well I like it, besides it really does seem to suit him."

As if hearing the praise Bucket raised his head a little higher and shook his mane. Rina looked at Quint's horse with a look of approval before turning back to her own pegasus and giving it a tender pat on the neck.

"This is Apple by the way."

Quint simply nodded his head in response and the three of them soon fell into a comfortable silence while they waited for Keith. It wasn't long before their superior officer came into view riding his own horse; the Knight-Commander had his left arm covered in dark green armor while his right arm was left completely bare. He wore a lightweight chest piece with thigh guards, Quint could just make out the sword and shield on his back.

As Keith got closer he locked eyes with Johan and stopped a few feet away from him.

"You there, Johan, where's your mount?"

At the mention of his name Johan smiled widely, before quickly hiding it when he saw Keith's unamused expression.

"Well, I'm a foot soldier sir, so I-"

"You'll ride with Quint, am I clear?"

Johan gave a crisp salute before answering.

"Crystal sir"

Johan quickly climbed onto the back of Bucket and without any more delay Keith kicked his horse into a brisk walk toward the city. Rina and Quint wordlessly followed the Knight-Commander and quickly fell into pace behind him. The ride through the city was obstacle free; as soon as someone caught sight of Keith a path was made for him through the usually busy street. Quint kept his eyes glued forward, refusing to make eye contact with anyone while Johan seemed to enjoy the attention and was waving at everyone they past, all while he had a large smile spread across his face.

The group soon exited the city and as soon as they hit the tree line Keith had pulled his horse to a stop and turned to face the three other members of the group.

"Rina, I want you in the sky the. Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, when we stop moving you are to rejoin us on the ground, understood?"

Rina offered a quick nod before taking off into the sky.

"Don't fall behind soldier, we'll be riding hard until we reach fort Haggar."

Without waiting for a response Keith snapped his horse's reins and took off down the road. Quint licked his lips and with a sharp inhale snapped his own reins and followed Keith.

 **XXX**

Keith finally called for Quint to stop after two hours of riding. His legs were incredibly sore from the activity and he could feel Bucket breathing hard. As soon as Bucket stopped moving Quint felt Johan throw himself off of the horse and run straight into some nearby bushes. While Johan took care of nature Quint rode closer to Keith and saw him staring at a map.

"How much farther until we reach the fort sir?"

Keith gave Quint a look out of the corner of his eye before looking back at the map.

"We're close. The three of us will approach on foot and assess the situation."

Quint gave a quick salute before returning to his horse and unstrapping his sword from its side. Rina landed her pegasus near the group and made her way over to Keith, whatever she was told caused her to give a nod before taking off into the sky once again. Quint made his way over to a tree and tied Buckets reins to a branch before making his way back over to Keith. Johan, who had a very relieved expression on his face, soon joined them.

"The two of you are to follow my lead exactly, you do exactly what I say when I say it. Am I understood?"

Both Johan and Quint gave a salute.

"Yes sir."

Keith gave a grunt in response and made his way through the trees, followed closely by the two young soldiers. Quint grabbed hold of his sword and run his thumb over the pommel again and again, unsure if it was anticipation or nerves that caused him to do so he kept doing it as a way to somehow calm down.

When Keith broke through the tree line he held up his hand as sign for Quint and Johan to stop. When Quint finally saw Fort Haggar he felt his shoulders slightly sag. It was just an ordinary looking building surrounded by an ordinary looking stone wall, one side had a large burn mark on it, but other than that everything about it was simply lackluster.

Keith made a sharp whistle sound and from overhead Quint saw Rina fly in a circle around the fort before landing just in front of the three men.

"I didn't see anybody on the grounds, maybe they're all inside."

Keith remained silent for a few moments, staring at the ground, before speaking up.

"Rina, you and Johan wait here. Quint and I are going to get our mounts."

Without a word Quint went back to where he had tied up Bucket, mounted him and returned to the group, where Johan climbed onto Quint's horse.

"Stay behind me."

Keith offered only those words before making his way toward the fort. Luckily for them the gate had been left open after the attack, which allowed the group to simply walk in. What Quint saw when he entered the courtyard caused his jaw to drop; there was nothing, no dead bodies, and no bandits standing around waiting for them. The only thing that there was the bloodstained grass and the stench it left. Keith quickly got off of his horse and inspected the blood; the only sound in the area was that of the wind blowing around them until Keith stood up

"Be on your guard, there could still be bandits inside the building. Johan you're with me, we're going inside. Quint, you and Rina will stay outside and keep an eye out."

All three soldiers nodded in response and soon Quint stood alone with Rina who only stared at the walls.

' _Where did the bodies of our soldiers go? There's no way that the bandits buried them, right?'_

Quint looked over at Rina and opened his mouth to say something, anything to console her, but quickly changed his mind.

' _Sorry the people you were stationed with got murdered, yeah that will really make her feel better. Idiot.'_

Without anything to say Quint decided to do as he was told and stared at the field outside of the gate.

' _What the hell is going on? Why would bandits attack Fort Haggar and then abandon it?'_

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door slamming shut and Johan walking outside while scratching his chin.

"Find anything?"

Johan shrugged in response before made his way over to Quint and Rina.

"Nothing, and I mean nothing. No weapons, no armor, no food, the bandits cleaned this place out. I guess they were just attacking for supplies."

"I guess so, but then why are the bodies of our soldiers missing?"

Johan shrugged once again.

"Who knows man, maybe they wanted every last piece of equipment and took the bodies with them."

"But still-"

"Can the two of you please talk about something else?"

Quint and Johan looked over to see Rina staring at the two of them with a slightly angered expression.

"Right… sorry."

Both Quint and Johan looked toward the ground in shame, talking about Rina's dead comrades and what had become of them was incredibly disrespectful and neither Quint nor Johan tried to bring the topic back up.

"Forget about it. Anyway where's the Knight-Commander?"

"He's checking out the commanders office, he thought that there might be something noteworthy in there."

Quint opened his mouth to ask another question but was cut off by the sound of a horn in the distance.

"What was that?"

Johan looked at Rina and Quint with wide eyes, expecting an answer, when he didn't get one Rina took off into the sky before quickly coming back down.

"Someone get the Knight-Commander, I just found the bandits."

Without missing a beat Johan ran back inside and Quint's hand drifted back to his sword and once again felt his thumb stroke the pommel.

When Johan returned he was followed closely by Keith who briskly made his way over to Rina and demanded to know the exact number of bandits approaching.

"Around seven sir, but I doubt that's all of them."

Keith stared out the front gate while he ran his fingers through his beard.

"Rina, back in the sky, keep away from any archer they might have and aid Quint or Johan if they require it. You two are going to cover my flank, the only way into this fort is through the front gate so we keep it to our back and fight through to make our escape. Any objections?"

When nobody raised their voice to argue Keith gave a nod and took his position at the gate. Quint took his place near Keith and took the chance to see how many bandits were on the way.

Like Rina said there were only seven bandits, but because of the tree line the exact number was unknown.

The first bandit was only a few feet away when he leapt into the air; he tried to use both hands to bring the axe down hard onto Keith. The Knight-Commander responded by simply thrusting his sword at the bandit, the man went wide-eyed before Keith impaled him. The now dead bandit was unceremoniously tossed to the side as the second bandit went to engage Keith.

While that happened a sword wielding bandit charged directly at Quint, who pulled his lance out of its holster. Instead of aiming for the rider the bandit swung low, aiming for Buckets legs, but was blocked by Quint digging his lance into the ground. Before he could move Bucket had reared up and slammed his front hoof into the face of the bandit. Without missing a second Quint mustered his strength and drove his lance straight through his attackers stomach. Instead of the swift death he thought would happen Quint watched the bandit lift a shaky hand toward him while blood gurgled from his mouth.

Quint tried to pull the lance out of his attackers gut but couldn't stop his hand from shaking long enough to do so. So caught up in the scene in front of him Quint failed to notice that a bandit had charged at him from the side, only realizing when the bandit was two feet away and let out a scream as he lunged at Quint.

Quint watched this happen in almost slow motion, unable to do anything to stop it, until feathers blocked his vision and when he could once again see he realized that his would be killer had been run through by Rina who once again took to the skies. Taking note of the battlefield Quint noticed that six of the bandits were now dead around them. The only one remaining was in a losing fight with Johan, who swiftly ran his lance through the bandits' throat after disarming him.

With no other opponents Quint released a deep breath and looked back at the bandit who attacked him first. His eyes were wide open and stared up at the sky, finally finding the nerve Quint pulled his lance out of the man and quickly put it back into its holster. He looked around and saw Keith kneeling beside a fallen bandit, examining an axe very closely.

"Sir, did you find something?"

Keith stood up from his crouching position and when he turned to face Quint he instantly looked twenty years older.

"I pray that I haven't."

 **XXX**

 **And there it is, finally the next chapter has been released. I once again apologize for how long this took I have been very busy with college and just haven't had the time to update this. Also I'm thinking of doing omakes in the future that will basically be support conversations between OC's if that's something you'd like to see than please tell me what characters you would like to see. One more quick thing, please leave a review for the chapter and let me know what you liked/disliked and if you are a character submitter please, please, please leave a review so that I know you're still here. Anyway I'll see you guys and gals next time.**


	5. Chapter 4: Behind Closed Doors

**A year huh? Wow I'm bad at this. I have no words other than I'm sorry, I can't even claim inactivity as an excuse because I've been updating other stuff. All I have is that on top of working I've been working on my first original story. However that all changes, for you see I have created an updating schedule that will keep me on my toes. 4 stories will be worked on simultaneously and updated appropriately, so far it's kind of worked but I'm aiming to make it better. Without further ado let's get into the story yeah?**

 **XXX**

The silence had become far too much too handle a lot faster than Quint would have liked. Keith had taken his place at the front of the group, his large back cutting him off from any possible conversation, while Rina remained in the sky, circling the group to catch a glimpse of any possible threat before it was too late. That left Johan as the only person to speak with, but he had fallen asleep and was using his shoulder as a pillow. Quint reached up to shake his riding partner awake before stopping himself halfway and putting his hand back on the reins.

' _If I were in his place I'd probably try to sleep too.'_

His eyes felt heavier than when he was at Fort Haggar, especially now that it had grown dark. Every now and then he had to remind himself to keep his head up. He looked up and saw Rina making another circle around the group and imagined her drifting off to sleep and sliding off the back of her pegasus. Then there was Keith, so motionless on his own horse that he could be asleep. Yet the man never swayed and never looked like he was going to topple over.

His eyes fell to the bandit's steel axe that was tied to the Knight-Commander's hip with a piece of rope. It was a good axe, shiny and unmarked, it seemed perfectly fine to Quint. Yet Keith had immediately disliked the weapon and refused to speak about it, despite the groups many attempts. And so, they had left Fort Haggar with more questions than answers and an eerily silent leader.

 _'The burn mark could have been from a group of mages, but what about the bodies. Someone had to move them, but why waste that much time moving Fraylian soldiers? Maybe they didn't move them, maybe they left them for the birds. But even then, birds can't eat that fast especially people. And they don't eat armor.'_ His musings were cut off by his own yawn, this time he felt his eyelids fall dangerously far and forced himself to keep them up. 

' _We need to stop soon, any longer and I might be joining Johan.'_

For the first time in hours Quint raised his voice to get the attention of Keith. "Sir! If I may?"

At first Keith remained still, either Quint had been unheard, or Keith had chosen to ignore him. Yet after a few more seconds the Knight-Commander slowly turned his head, showing the corner of his eye. A subtle nod was the only response given.

"I think it would be best if we stop for the night. The horses look exhausted and I can't imagine how Rina must be feeling up there." Quint finished his statement by stifling a yawn with the back of his hand while Keith kept his eye trained on him.

Wordlessly Keith looked away and pulled on the reins of his horse drawing it to a stop. Quint allowed himself to smile before copying the Knight-Commander and stopping his own horse.

A sharp whistle from the Knight-Commander was the single Rina needed to come back to the ground. When she reached the group, Quint watched her yawn into the palm of her hand before making her way over to Johan and himself. "How long has he been asleep?"

Quint smiled and shook his shoulder to rouse his friend. "Not too long."

Rina smirked in response before pointing to his chest. "Really? Because that river of drool says otherwise."

When Quint looked down his smile faded, and his eyes widened. "Oh, Gross!" Instinctively Quint jerked backwards at the sight, which sent Johan's head backwards and without any ability to brace himself the rest of his body followed, and Johan met the ground with a loud "Oomph!"

Groggy eyed and looking understandably annoyed Johan rubbed the back of his head from his place on the ground. "What in the Hells was that for?"

"You were drooling on me!"

Johan blinked a few times before wiping some remaining drool from his lip with the back of his fist and examining it. When he saw that Quint was telling the truth he merely shrugged and wiped the drool onto the grass. "So? A little bit of drool never got anyone hurt."

Quint felt his eye twitch at the nonchalant response. "It's about to get _you_ hurt." As he was dismounting Quint glimpsed Rina covering her mouth with her hand while the other held onto her stomach. _'Well I'm glad someone finds this funny.'_

Quint's feet had just hit the ground when the sound of someone clearing their throat shattered every thought in his head. Johan was on his feet in the blink of an eye, Quint immediately stood at attention, and Rina was quickly able to get her laughter under control. Keith stood in front of the group without an expression on his face, yet still seemed to look irritated. "I have provision in my saddle, divvy them up, make a firepit, and take care of the horses while I search for firewood. I expect silence while I'm gone, clear?"

Nobody offered an argument and so Keith took his leave. Rina made the first move toward Keith's horse which Johan took as a sign to relax and chose to fall backwards with his hands behind his head. Quint decided to take care of Bucket and tied the horse up near Keith's own. With a pat to Bucket's neck Quint made his way over to Rina and Johan to take a seat. Rina handed him his ration in the form of a small green square, his disgust must have shown on his face because Rina offered an apologetic look. "Standard military rations, they taste about as good as they look."

With one more look at his meager dinner Quint tossed the square into the back of his mouth and chewed it as little as possible before swallowing. _'That tasted like dirt.'_ A nudge against his elbow caught his attention and he looked over to see Johan offering him a canteen. "You get used to it after a while."

Quint gratefully took the offered water and tilted his head back to wash the taste from his mouth. Once he had decently rinsed his mouth he handed the container back to Johan and started to stand back up. "I'll start digging the pit." However, before he got the chance Rina had already jumped to her feet. "I'll take care of that, you two just rest for now."

Johan offered no argument and merely shrugged in response before once again laying down. Quint scratched the back of his neck before responding. "You sure you don't want a hand?"

Rina didn't even look up from what she was doing. "It's not that hard, just relax while we wait for the Knight-Commander."

With nothing to do Quint unsheathed his sword and began to run a whetstone across the blade while his mind went blank. It didn't take much longer before Keith reappeared with a bundle of firewood in his arms. Without a word to the group Keith made his way to the firepit and created a small pile before starting a fire using his sword and a flint stone.

The group sat in perfect silence for roughly an hour, warming themselves next to the small fire. It seemed the silence would last forever until Keith suddenly decided to speak up. "I trust none of you have a problem with sleeping on the ground. Unless of course you happened to bring a bedroll with you?"

A look at Rina and Johan confirmed exactly what Quint was thinking. "No sir, didn't think we'd need them." A grunt from Keith was his only response.

"We take turns on watch. I'll go first, then Rina, Then Johan, and Quint will go last. We repeat until first light. Any arguments?" Silent nods were his response and with that Quint laid back and closed his eyes.

 **XXX**

 _He was surrounded by flames. Some came close enough to kiss his fingers but never enough to bite. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the building, once tall and proud it was now nothing more than a host of flames. He reached out, as if trying to stop the flame with nothing more than willpower, but he was stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder. The lopsided smile that was missing more than enough teeth, the wrinkles around his eyes that he had counted more than once. He couldn't move, he didn't need to, he was safe. And suddenly the man's other arm went high and Quint caught a glimpse of something glint in the moonlight. Someone screamed, and when the axe came down, so did he._

 _"Momma!"_

Quint sat straight up and almost collided with Johan on the way. Johan jumped backwards and landed firmly on his backside. "Woah, easy man it's just me. No need to freak out."

Quint placed a hand against his chest and felt his heartbeat slow. When he felt it return to normal he placed a shaky hand against the ground and used it to stand up. "Sorry, bad dream."

Johan nodded his head, as if everything suddenly made sense. "Yeah, I hear you. Those rations haunt my dreams too. What do you think they're made of anyway? Can't be anything normal, I think they use dog hair, but I don't really have any proof. Just a gut feeling."

Quint blinked a few times and shook his head to get the thought out. "What? No, I- Never mind, it's my watch right."

"Yup, give it an hour then wake up Keith for his turn. Have fun man." With that Johan plopped down and promptly began to snore.

With a sigh Quint reattached his breastplate and sat against a tree, allowing his mind to drift back to the dream. ' _One night after the other, maybe I should just try staying awake for the rest of my life.'_

With a sigh Quint glanced down at his sword and then over to where Bucket was asleep. _'I worked him too hard just to wake him up for a little bit of practice.'_

He looked at his group, fast asleep and deaf to the world. _'A few minutes, that much won't hurt. I'll be back before any of them even wake up.'_

With one last nod to himself Quint rose to his feet and made his way through the trees. He didn't have to walk too far before the trees opened to reveal a small clearing. Without missing a beat Quint closed his eyes and imagined himself back at Fort Haggar. This time he had no horse beneath him, just his own feet and instead of a lance he held a sword.

The first bandit charged; he held his sword low, aiming for Quint's legs. He stepped back to dodge the blow and followed with a downward slash that cut the bandit from shoulder to pelvis. He fell and opened the path for the second bandit who jumped toward Quint, axe held high. This time Quint spun in place, dodged the blow, and stabbed the bandit through the back.

 _'But what if they had attacked differently? If I wasn't riding Bucket, then there's no way they would have fought the same.'_ And so, Quint went back. This time the first bandit lunged at him and Quint parried the attack before performing his own lunge stabbing the bandit straight through the chest. When the second one appeared, Quint watched him charge with a battle cry on his lips before he brought the axe down in a heavy curve. He back stepped and swung his own blade horizontally, cutting the bandit across the chest, but not deep enough to kill. Wounded, the bandit took another swing at Quint who once more dodged the attack. One last swing of his blade and Quint sent the bandits head rolling.

 _'Not good enough, what if the first guy fought more defensively against someone on foot. What if the second bandit threw his axe instead of charging.'_ He went in circles, fighting his imaginary enemies and winning before grumbling about how they may have fought him differently. He was amid the thought of dueling both bandits at the same time when a voice caught him off guard. "Hard to keep watch of the group while you're over here, wouldn't you agree?"

Quint spun and saw the Knight-Commander standing between two trees, arms crossed, and eyes narrowed. "You were the one who requested we stop for the night. I assumed it was because you were tired, and yet here I find you training."

Quint swallowed the lump in his throat and felt his hand tighten around his sword. "I... I'm sorry sir, I thought I could train for a few moments before returning to my watch."

Keith offered no words in response and merely made his way toward Quint. "And while you were out here what would stop some ragtag group from swooping down and killing us in our sleep?"

Quint's mouth opened and closed without making a sound until finally his head dropped. "I'm sorry sir, I wasn't thinking."

"No, I suppose you weren't." And suddenly the air grew much heavier, neither men made a sound or even an attempt to move. When it grew to be too much Quint took it upon himself to relieve the pressure. "I'll head back to the camp now sir, I promise not to-"

"Your stance is bad."

He blinked twice at the interruption before looking up at Keith. "Sir?"

"Your stance, it's no good."

Quint looked down at his feet. _'My stance?'_ "But this is the stance they teach us in basic training."

Keith scratched his beard and let out a sigh. "And that's exactly what's wrong with it. It's too uniform, too recognizable. if you want to be a frontline grunt, fine keep it up. But I doubt that your aspiration ends there."

"But if it' so wrong why teach it?"

Keith sighed. "I didn't say it was wrong, I said it was no good. Every man has a style that they're comfortable with but in the military, we don't have the time or the patience to bring that out unless the recruits have the desire to do so. Most don't, so we give them a basic stance for whatever position they've been assigned and pass them along. It's lazy and we lose more men than we save but there's little choice in the matter. Here in Fraylia men don't join the military because they want to get stronger, they do it because it's a great way to get fat."

That last part was said with bite and Quint felt himself draw back. Yet despite himself Quint felt his mouth open. "So then, why'd you join?"

Keith stared off into space for a few moments and Quint saw his hand tighten. "That's not a story worth hearing. Now get back to the group and see that you don't disobey my orders again."

Keith turned first and stalked off after a few seconds Keith was swallowed by the trees. Quint looked down at his open palm as Keith's words echoed in his skull. _'Here in Fraylia men don't join the military because they want to get stronger, they do it because it's a great way to get fat.'_

His hand tightened into a fist as he whispered to himself. "I did."

 **XXX**

There was no crowd to greet them on their return to the capitol. A few old men looked up from a board game before going back and a couple children ran beside the horses giggling to themselves and pretending to be knights, until that became boring and they ran off into some alley. Rina had rejoined them on the ground and was making small talk with Johan, Quint couldn't hear a word they were saying. He was too focused on the talk he had with Keith the other night.

 _'Not a story worth telling? If he didn't join to become strong, why did he? Service to the kingdom? He did give that whole speech about doing our duty after the ceremony. Still though...'_

As they were approaching the castle gates Quint could see a small group of soldiers had formed a blockade in front of it. Making it impossible to get in without going through them first. When they got close enough, one small man with no armor stepped forward and stopped them. "Knight-Commander Keith, a council meeting has been called to take place upon your return. I am to take you there myself."

Quint couldn't see Keith's face, but he did hear the grumble of agreement that was made before the Knight-Commander dismounted and handed his reins over to one of the soldiers. "You three, with me."

At this the messenger stepped forward. "Sir, I'm afraid that this meeting is for members of the council only. Your...group is not allowed inside."

Keith only raised an eyebrow. "They will be acting as my retainers for the meeting. Unless _someone_ decided to remove that admittance without my knowledge."

The messenger grumbled something under his breath before properly responding. "Very well, they are permitted to accompany you. So long as they follow proper etiquette."

Keith's eyes narrowed. "I'm aware. Hurry up and take me to the council room."

If the man felt threatened by Keith, he did a perfect job of hiding it. With a wave of his hand two more men stepped forward to take the reins from Rina and Quint as they dismounted and followed Keith closely. While they were walking Keith slowed his pace so that he was only a few inched in front of the three. "Do not speak unless spoken to and even then, only say what's necessary, clear?"

Nobody argued, and Keith sped up to retake his original position. It wasn't long until the group were stopped in front of a large door covered in ornate carvings of knights, paladins, and pegasus knights. The messenger knocked twice before pushing the door open and allowing the group inside.

The room was stunning; green carpet covered the room end to end and in the middle of the room sat a long rectangular wooden table. Its legs were carved to look like hooves. Above the table was a chandelier made entirely out of glass, hundreds of candles were lit illuminating the entire room. At the opposite side of the room was another door with a similar appearance to the one they had just entered. The only difference was the crown carved into the top of the door.

The long sides of the table had four chairs each, while the head of the table was home to a large chair with red lining and golden armrests. On one side of the table sat four men in green robes. Three were old, signified by their long grey beards and thin hair. The youngest sat closest to the red chair yet calling him young felt generous. The top of his head was bald leaving the sides of his head as the only place to find any hair. At one point it was likely pure black but now it was marked by specks of white. His blue eyes sat behind a pair of spectacles that seemed too small for his face. Then there was his smile, it held everything that Quint hated about nobles behind it; condescending, arrogant, that thin air of superiority. It was disgusting.

He was so focused on the noble that he failed to notice the familiar face that occupied the other side of the table.

"Good to see you boys again, I didn't get too much of a heads up about you leaving but I suppose that's no fault of your own."

Quint felt his lips pull up at the warm tone. "It's good to see you too Captain Hendrickson."

A chuckle was his only response as Hendrickson turned back to the table. "Best be taking your place behind Keith now, don't want to hold this up too long."

Keith had taken a seat across from the young noble, leaving two empty seats between himself and Hendrickson. Without another word; Rina, Johan, and Quint stood behind Keith as the messenger from earlier stepped forward.

"This council meeting has been called by honorable Lord Bastion on the grounds of Knight-Commander Keith's sudden disappearance from the capitol. Is there any other issue that the members of the council wish to discuss?"

There were grumbles of no and one yes, all eyes turned to Keith as the source. "On what issue does Knight-Commander Keith wish to present discussion?"

"The fall of Fort Haggar." Hendrickson leaned forward while the men in green all whispered to each other. The young man leaned back and crossed his arms, the smile never leaving his face.

"The Knight-Commander's request has been recognized and shall be addressed after Lord Bastion's own."

The messenger cleared his throat before speaking again. "Does this council recognize the absence of Scoutmaster Orys?"

Every man responded with a yes at the question. "Does this council wish to proceed without his presence?"

This time the only man to say no was Keith who had slid down in his seat, one hand used to prop his head up while the other drummed against the table. "Knight-Commander Keith has disagreed with the motion to proceed with the meeting. Do the other members of this council recognize his answer?"

"Yes." This time everyone answered except for Keith.

"Do the other members of this council wish to proceed with the meeting?"

"Yes." With a nod of his head the messenger continued. "The motion to continue the meeting has passed. Does this meeting recognize the absence of Wing-Captain Rose?"

It happened just like last time everyone other than Keith said yes, even Hendrickson, and when asked if they wanted to continue regardless they all agreed.

"This council recognizes that Knight-Commander Keith has voiced his dissatisfaction with proceeding. Shall the Knight-Commander be treated as a hostile voice?"

Every man but Keith answered with a firm no and with that the messenger stepped back. "Please be seated while we await her majesty the queen's presence."

 _'Wait what?'_

Quint felt his mouth drop as he began to look around the room before his eyes fell onto the big red chair. _'The queen is going to be in this room. I'm going to meet the queen.'_

He felt a firm hand grab his wrist and he saw Keith holding onto him while staring at him with narrowed eyes. He slowly shook his head and Quint had enough sense to quickly get himself under control. Yet even the intervention of Keith wasn't fast enough to save him from embarrassment.

A chuckle from the man across from Keith caught his attention, the smirk still in place. "Oh my, you'd think the poor boy had never stepped into a proper room before. Properly grew up in a barn somewhere."

Quint felt a growl in the pit of his stomach take form. _'I'll show you poor boy baldy.'_ But before he could respond to the taunt a hand against his back stopped him. He looked over and saw Rina give a shake of her head before returning to attention. _'Next time baldy, next time.'_

Keith only sighed before answering. "I'd prefer it if you didn't antagonize my soldiers Bastion-"

" _Lord_ Bastion, if you're going betters than you should do so properly." Keith's finger drumming picked up its pace.

"Believe me _Lord_ Bastion, I enjoy addressing you as little as possible."

Bastion's smirk turned into a sneer. "Yes, I'm sure you much prefer riding off in the middle of the night without warning or notice."

"I received notice that Fort Haggar had fallen, I rode out to assess the problem."

Bastion leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "That's not your job. You are the Knight-Commander, your place is here not in the field. That's what soldiers are for."

The finger drumming grew faster. "Too much time would have been wasted getting men together, and unless you haven't noticed our Scoutmaster is currently missing in action. I handled the problem myself."

The smirk came back almost instantly. "Oh? From where I'm sitting you abandoned your post to ride off and relieve your glory days."

The drumming reached new speeds. "Then perhaps you should get a better seat." It was said through grit teeth and Quint could see the other nobles pull back, but not Bastion.

"How clever, perhaps if you spent more time training your men and less time perfecting your wordplay we wouldn't be having this meeting."

Whatever Keith was going to say in response was interrupted by the large crowned doors opening. Every man in the room instantly shot to their feet and stood with their hands behind their back.

The first person to step through wore black and white armor with spikes along the arms, her long curly blond hair fell past her chin and framed her white skin. On her nose sat a pair of black rimmed glasses, she quickly stood to the side of the red chair and allowed Quint to see the second woman to enter the room.

She was beautiful; Long white hair fell to her shoulders, she wore a light green dress that covered everything but stopped at her elbows leaving her forearms free. She wore a golden necklace laced with green gems yet the biggest sat in the middle of the jewelry and rested against her chest, the gem caught the light of the room at just the right angle that it glowed. Her heart shaped face held the smallest of smiles and had only the faintest hints of make-up. All of that aside, it was her eyes that captured Quint. Light blue yet warmer than any fire he had ever seen.

 _'The Queen.'_

She slowly made her way into the room; the click clacks of her heels echoed across the silent room and when she finally made it to her chair it was pulled out by the dark armored woman.

"This council recognizes the presence of her grace, Queen Allisya of Fraylia, Daughter of King Raymond."

Every man bowed at the end and Quint quickly forced himself to follow suit.

"This council also recognizes the presence of Melanie Pyros, personal guard to Queen Allisya."

No man did anything after the second introduction until Queen Allisya sat down, which everyone else copied.

"This meeting shall commence with its original purpose. Lord Bastion has the floor." With a nod to the speaker Bastion stood up and once more bowed to the Queen.

"I'm sure there is no confusion as to why I called this meeting. Knight-Commander Keith chose to leave not only castle without proper permission, but he also left the capitol. Now I am not blind to our Knight-Commander's honored history, but that is no excuse for him to do what he wants. I move that the Knight-Commander be placed under review until he proves himself capable of properly following procedure." With his speech done Bastion sat down, smirk firmly in place.

There were a few grumbles of agreement from the nobles' side of the table. Hendrickson had leaned forward and was glancing at Keith from the corner of his eye. Keith hadn't moved from his original position. The only change was that he was no longer drumming his fingers against the table.

"Does the Knight-Commander have anything to say in his defense?"

Keith threw a sideways glance at the speaker before standing up and untying the axe from his belt. Quint watched in almost slow motion as Keith placed the axe on the table.

"This is an axe a picked up from the body of a bandit that was lurking around Fort Haggar."

Bastion waved his hand in a motion to continue. "And? What exactly does that have to do with anything?"

"It's steel. Unused, unmarked steel. Common bandits don't carry weapons this fine without proper coin or unless they have enough to go around."

He was met with a scoff from Bastion. "You're going to sit there and say that a bandit having good weapons is a justifiable defense for you leaving the capitol?"

"No, I'm going to sit here and say that a bandit having good weapons is a sign that something is on its way. Fort Haggar fell to a horde of these outlaws and they left nothing behind except for a burned wall and bloodstains. I don't know where these bandits are, but I do know that they have the armory of an entire Fort with them and Gods know what else. So unless we start moving more men North we won't have the luxury of sitting here debating it."

No man spoke, even Bastion seemed to have gone quiet. Quint felt himself smirk internally. _'What's the matter baldy? Can't argue against common sense?'_

"I propose moving more men North to act as lookouts for potential bandit attacks and stopping any possible threat before it's too late."

"How many men?" Bastion had broken his silence to ask the question, gone was his smirk, instead his face held no expression at all.

Keith took a moment to consider the question. "Five hundred, that should be sufficient to act as a vanguard against any number of Bandits."

"Half that, and I'll agree."

Keith paused and slowly narrowed his eyes at Bastion. "What?"

The smirk was back. "I agree that sending men up North is a reasonable response to this bandit threat. However, sending so many men North will only provoke King Toborn and then we'll have another group of savages to worry about."

"You mean to tell me that you would endanger every member of this Kingdom because you're afraid of making Toborn upset?"

" _King_ Toborn, and yes I am. In case you were unaware the Oslad army not only outnumbers us, it puts our own military to shame."

Keith let a growl escape his throat. "Trust me, I had not forgotten."

The sound of someone clearing their throat erased most of the tension that had built. Every man turned to where Hendrickson was offering a sheepish smile. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt but maybe we could reach an agreement of sorts. Both men raise good points, so what if we send one hundred men a week up North and request a status report every other. That way we can send our men north without looking too threatening."

Every man in the room turned back to Keith and Bastion who both nodded their head before sitting down. With those two silent everyone turned back to Queen Allisya

 _'I completely forgot she was here.'_

Quint saw that her small smile and faded and its place was a frown, with the gem still glowing it held a somber look.

 _'If she was literally anyone else I'd try to make her feel better. I'd probably get in way too much trouble if I tried anything here.'_

Noticing all eyes were back on her Queen Allisya put her smile back on before addressing the room. "I agree with Captain Hendrickson's' plan. We shall begin sending men at the Knight-Commander's discretion."

She was about to stand up when Bastion cleared his throat in a seemingly innocent manner. When the Queen turned to face him he simply raised an eyebrow.

"...Regarding Lord Bastions request against the Knight-Commander, I give my full approval."

With that the Queen stood up and accompanied by Melanie Pyros, left the room. Slowly the rest of the council made its way out of the room. Hendrickson offered Keith an apologetic look while Bastion retained his smirk. When it was finally just the four of them in the room Keith stood up and made his way to the door. "The three of you, my office."

The followed silently and without argument, almost struggling to keep up. When they finally made it to Keith's office he ushered them inside before closing the door. He quickly took his place behind the desk and had a seat. "Tomorrow morning the three of you will report to the front gate for your next assignment. You'll be escorting a noble while he tours the Kingdom, any supplies you might need will be given to you upon arrival. Dismissed."

Both Rina and Johan gave a salute before they left, Johan practically skipping. Yet Quint stayed behind, when he noticed that he still had a straggler Keith look up from his desk. "Your ears not working soldier? I said dismissed."

Quint shuffled his feet before answering. "Sir if you don't mind me asking... what was all that? The debating, the guy saying everyone's names, even the Queen was there. It just seemed so...odd."

The corner of Keith's mouth rose momentarily before falling back down. "That was Fraylian politics. Unnecessary, irritating, and full of stuck up bigots like Bastion. It only exists because the nobles hold too much power here and they get mad when anyone has more power than them."

Keith paused before going back to work. "You remember that saying I told you about? The one from Espus."

It took Quint a moment to figure out what he was talking about. "You mean the one about the fisherman?"

Keith made a noise of approval. "Yeah, that one. Remember it, it's more useful than you'd know. Now if you don't have any more questions, I believe you were dismissed."

 **XXX**

When morning finally came Quint found that he was already half awake. Without wasting a second, he started the process of putting on his armor and had just finished when Johan shot straight up in bed.

"What time is it?"

A small smile made its way across his face. "Time to wake up."

An unimpressed look was all Johan responded with before he jumped out of bed and started to put on his armor. With a shout goodbye Quint made his way out of the barracks and over to the stables. After a short discussion with the stablemaster Quint pulled Bucket from his room and hopped onto his back before making his way to the main gate.

 _'Noble escort huh? Probably some fat dastard who wants to look down on everyone with less coin than him. Maybe it's some old man off to see his mistress.'_

Quint rolled his eyes at the thought and continued his ride to the gate. When he got their he saw that Rina was alreadythere and so was Johan. There were also two other people who he didn't recognize. One was a tall lanky man with shaggy brown hair that blocked his eyes from view and a simple iron bow thrown over his shoulder. The other was a short knight in sky blue armor, who wore every piece of equipment, blocking their face from view. They were all standing beside a carriage making small talk.

 _'Guess that's the noble.'_

Quint threw up a hand and waved to the group as he rode over. "Sorry I'm late, the stablemaster isn't too fond of me these days."

"Can't imagine why, you're a pretty fun guy to be around."

The response froze the look on his face. It hadn't come from any member of the group, instead it had come from inside the carriage. The door opened slowly, and the noble made his way down the stairs.

 _'You gotta be kidding me.'_

One eye was hidden behind a wing of white hair, while the other smiled at him. The clothes had stayed largely the same, royal green shirt with the collar down, tan pants and a pair of tall green boots.

"Marik?"

 **XXX**

 **And boom! New chapter, I'm not gonna sit here and brag but I'm pretty sure this was my longest chapter ever. I mean it I'm not gonna brag, this should have been out a year ago and I do apologize but I do have something resembling a schedule now, so I mean that's gotta count for something right? Anyway, three more OC's were kind of introduced here. Two of which will get a better introduction next chapter. (Which will not take a year to update I swear.) But that's all I got. See you all next time.**


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